[1] In this order of the universe.
[2] The created beings endowed with souls,—angels and men.
[3] The source of their being, God.
[4] This instinct directs to their proper end animate as well as inanimate things, as the bow shoots the arrow to its mark.
[5] The Empyrean, within which the Primum Mobile, the first moving heaven, revolves.
[6] Contrary to its true nature.
Thereon she turned again toward heaven her face.
CANTO II.
Proem.—Ascent to the Moon.—The cause of Spots on the Moon.—Influence of the Heavens.
O ye, who are in a little bark, desirous to listen, following behind my craft which singing passes on, turn to see again Your shores; put not out upon the deep; for haply losing me, ye would remain astray. The water that I sail was never crossed. Minerva inspires, and Apollo guides me, and nine Muses point out to me the Bears.